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Hello I am a 16year old Canadian male who has tried looking for work for the past 9 months. To no avail. I have tried EVERYWHERE. I got a pretty decent cover letter.
Dakka can you help me?

Where have you looked? What qualifications do you have? Are you looking for full time or part time?

I'm sure local Fast Food places will have vacancies. They are generally noted to have a high staff turnover.

How about offering a hand car wash, where you go to them. Bucket, sponge, detergent, Pushbike, Chamois Leather and you are ready to go. Print some flyers, stick them through doors with your telephone/contact details on, and see what happens. Undercut the local professionals, and you have a small business. Might not make you a fortune, but hey, little money is better than no money.

If you don't have work experience I'd suggest volunteering for a while. Get some positive references going and who knows --- through networking via volunteering you might find a job.

And I'd imagine many of the places you tried before are now hiring Temporary Staff for the Christmas period.

Here in the UK, this is often used as a proving ground for the Companies, who then keep on the best staff recruited.

are you being picky with what jobs you apply for?

apply for anything and everything... some kids I know refuse to work fast food, and thus, don't have jobs.

I got a job at burger king... not great, but it gave me customer service experience. After 2 years there (part time during high school), I worked for verizon wireless, as a customer service / tech rep. again, not great, but it gave me more customer service experience, and some technical training. Now, I work as a system administrator for my college. Still a customer facing position, but it builds on the previous skill sets.

Take any job you can get, and it will have some skills you can transfer over to other jobs.

Showing a will to work is important in later life. My C.V. is a little too chequered than I'd like, but I do have the advantage of now being multi-skilled which can be of benefit.

If you take a job, any job, and stick at it, that sends out a signal to your future ideal employer that you are a grafter. But if you just sit on your arse for a few years 'because you are waiting for the right job' you suggest that should the job not be up to your expectations, you'll leave. This is not attractive to prospective employers. They want skills, ability AND dedication.

@horst I will work anywhere! and I have tried from McDs to Walmart and hundreds others.

I could try Volunteer I might try to SPCA or something I know the firehall has something for volunteer work.

@ mad doc I have my food safe training! and have worked ay my family buisness a butcher shop.

Go on welfare.

It's what all the smart kids do!

if your under 18 and male, you could probably make a pretty penny catering to the "needs" of japanese business men.

If all else fails, go back to school and get some A levels.

Don't get downcast Shadowbrand. I would say be persistent. Don't just hand in your CV. Check up on it. Ask what the progress is. Only back off if the TELL YOU 'no' and 'bugger off.'

Also, when applying for a job try to tailor suit your CV to match that company. A blanket CV may not be the best thing. BTW, when going for an interview dress smartly and try as much as possible to match the uniform of the employees. (That way they can more easily imagine you in the workplace.)

@killkrazy I'm at school and was just given a honour roll certifacite with my report card. This only happens when the planets align.

Yeah.. Ill try anoter run with my resume say next wensday I get off early that day. I'd love a mall job though.

@horst Yeah but they love hairless men I got a huge stache and without persistant shaving a rapist beard. I even got the "Something is wrong with this guy hat"

Cane wrote:If you don't have work experience I'd suggest volunteering for a while. Get some positive references going and who knows --- through networking via volunteering you might find a job.

Sounds damn boring and pointless, but fortunately it works...

Your best bet is to get into volunteer work. You could continue to put in resumes at places until you found a job.

I would not rely heavily on off chances at finding work randomly, that is just a fantastic way to feel crappy about not finding work. Depending on what you are interested in as a career (even vaguely for that matter), you could possibly find an internship through volunteer work.

In this economy (not sure what it is like in Canada), professionals are lucky to find work, and assuming that fast food joints will hire is probably a lofty supposition. High turn over or not, managers are likely to be hiring full time workers, that are likely to stay in that job for lack of any other opportunities. Basically, if the economy is bad in your area, and you can't find work; it is most likely because someone else is just better for that job.

Anyway though, find volunteer work (preferably outside, walking around) and just get used to having a regular schedule. If you get unlucky, and find an uncomfortable (basically stupid, nonsensical volunteering that bores, or angers you) situation, there is more than likely to be an alternative.

Oh, and learn to have a strong work ethic, which includes having respect for yourself, and your work. Don't get pushed around... too much that is .

If you really can't find anything to do; Learn to dig ditches, because at the damn least, you can still do something yourself.
(Grave digging IS a career BTW, no strange metaphor here...)

Chopping wood also builds resolve and focus. No need to call this old school.

If, and when you decide to go into a degree based career, remember exactly what you were hired to do. In short, don't split logs when you aren't there to do it.

I'm going to be a little more diligent now that xmas is near. Their has to be SOMETHING to do..
If this fails ill just do some volunteering i'm willing to bet it will lead to a few nice things.

Get a trade.

There is a shortage of tradesmen (plumbers, electricians etc) in Canada, apparently. The Canadian Gov't is even advertising for them in the UK.

That should be your next move.

I actually want to be a chef when i'm older.

Gwar! wrote:Go on welfare.

It's what all the smart kids do!

Until you have kids out of wedlock, and the State Of fething California sucks the financial marrow from your bones...

@OP: Are there any video game dev houses in your neck of the woods? I would check those out. Being a Quality Assurance Tester is a great way to get your foot in the industry, and the pay is decent for playing, err, um... testing videogames.

I started as a tester monkey at Sega, then bounced around Sony, and finally settling at my current place of employment. Now I am now a Junior Level Designer The only thing is you need to be 18 in the US, but I am not familiar with Canadian labor laws...

I think I'd have to go south to Vancouver for anything like that. MAJOR stuff around where I am is lumber and mining.

Shadowbrand wrote:I got a huge stache and without persistant shaving a rapist beard. I even got the "Something is wrong with this guy hat"

Jon LaJoi FTW!!!


I can't find a pick of the "Something is wrong with this guy hat"
BTW, I have the public masturbater trench coat...

So did I was a Rorshach for Halloween.

Don't be picky, as has been said, but don't take just anything. Wasting your time in a job that pays little, and fails to offer valuable experience, can often be worse than simply being unemployed or volunteering in a productive field.

Don't be afraid to keep looking either. There's nothing wrong with dropping a job for a better one down the line. Even if 'down the line' is only 1 week.

I think education is your best chance of a decent job in the long-run. I should know - I dropped out of college when I was 17 to go touring around the country with my band for a few years - that was 10 years ago! When I finally decided to stop being a bum, I found I wasn't qualified for anything, which meant one thing: Minimum Wage. It's hard to pay rent/bills and food on around £5 per hour. Life sucks if you don't get some form of education, mate. That's why I went back to University last year - best move I ever made.

Shadowbrand wrote:So did I was a Rorshach for Halloween.

Me, too! Well, I guess you knew that...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
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Albatross wrote:I think education is your best chance of a decent job in the long-run. I should know - I dropped out of college when I was 17 to go touring around the country with my band for a few years - that was 10 years ago! When I finally decided to stop being a bum, I found I wasn't qualified for anything, which meant one thing: Minimum Wage. It's hard to pay rent/bills and food on around £5 per hour. Life sucks if you don't get some form of education, mate. That's why I went back to University last year - best move I ever made.

QFT

Try your local school. I know of some kids (mostly the slowed, but some "normal" kids) get jobs helping clean windows and other janitorial duties.